Simmone Park

Transcript

thanksgiving it's supposed to be about giving thanks for me thanksgiving was nothing more than an excuse to over indulge in the company of friends and family that is until thanksgiving 2015. i'm walking down the street minding my own business when a man i don't know comes up behind me grabs me by the pony until there i am down on my knees staring down the barrel of a gun i am terrified my intuition kicks in please sir don't do this you don't have to do this sir now this guy had probably never been called sir a day in his life so the sirs were successful in

throwing him off but only for a second as that gun and his fists smash down on my face and head it is the first time in my life that i think that i might die but i haven't seen the northern lights or gotten my pilot's license or had the chance to become a mother now he hits me so hard that i get knocked down and as my head hits the pavement my inner voice is now screaming if you don't get up and fight this man is going to kill you so i got up oh did i get up and now my brain is quickly filtering

through my entire life experience searching scanning for anything that could help me in that moment fascination with boxing age 15 to 17. i fought i fought to see iceland i fought to fly a plane and i fought i fought for my future unborn child so we went back and forth like muhammad ali and sunny liston and inside i'm begging for him to stop but he just wouldn't listen exhausted depleted i put everything i had into one final stinger and then i snatched his chain with nothing but my middle finger yes a man tried to rob me at gunpoint and i fought him off and i

robbed him you know what they say you can take the girl out of scarborough but you just can't take the scarborough out of the girl everything changed for me after that breaking that chain was like breaking through the chains of mediocrity that was my life coming close to dying was what finally made me wake up and realize that i hadn't even been living i was merely going through the motions working a job i hate with a partner that was totally wrong for me but great on paper watching tv and binge eating until i pass out only to wake up and repeat woo tgi fridays uh

another case of the mondays coming that close to dying made living that much more precious so when i think back to thanksgiving 2015 i give thanks because without that piece of i honestly don't know if i would be this alive today i don't waste one single moment and i am grateful for every day that i am alive here on this earth do not wait until you're staring down the barrel of a gun wondering whether you're going to live or die before you finally choose to start living thank you you

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.